It’ll be news to nobody when I say this, but I’ll say it anyway: Chris Cornell’s Scream is horrible. There are plenty of albums released in a year that aren’t so hot, but this goes beyond that to something wrong on so many levels. To put it in an aging rocker context: It makes Chinese Democracy look like Appetite For Destruction. We’ve said as much in our posts about “Scream,” Ground Zero,” and “Long Gone.” Fair question: So why do we keep writing about it? Sick fascination. Rubbernecking. If you think we’re just being snots, we’re not alone: Take a look at what Mr. Trent Reznor had to say about the former Soundgardener’s sad foray into electropop.

“You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell’s record? Jesus.”

The original note’s at Reznor’s Twitter. Not that we’re pretending there’s some sort of beef between the two singers — gossip? us? — but you really can’t argue with Trent here. Not that Chris would care to. The guy who wrote “Outshined” describes his new album as “an interesting sociological experiment” and is having a blast confounding fans (“there’s some excitement that I got out of that that I haven’t felt in years”) according to a Reuters interview.

That part’s kinda fun … If someone is up in arms about the idea of an artist that they really care about doing something that they just can’t believe, it begs that question, “Well, what is it that you would want? Would you then want predictable, comfortable salad that gets reproduced year after year?”

The best unintentionally funny quote in that article has to deal with what he’s spotted at the live shows: “It’s the most that I’ve seen guys with beards rocking back and forth to a rhythm.” So he does not watch bear porn!

If you are brave enough to partake in Mr. Cornell’s sociological experiment, check out the “Part Of Me” video.